Abstract

Since the enactment of the K to 12 programs nationwide, many schools in the Philippines had made changes to better accommodate the Senior High School students, one such school is Holy Family Academy. Influenced by the goal of the K to 12 program which is college readiness, Holy Family Academy also set out to make changes that would satisfy the said goal. However, since this is quite new to the community, it is still unsure if the effects would turn out to be on the positive side, or if it were to have any effect at all. For this reason, the study was made to find out the psychological influences of heterogeneous sectioning in cooperative learning on the Senior High school students. The school adopted a heterogeneous classroom set up for the Senior High school year levels instead of the homogeneous sectioning it traditionally uses, wherein students are separated into two types of sections, the best sections, and the average sections. A phenomenological research design was used in the implementation of the study. To get results, interviews took place, which lasted roughly 10 to 15 minutes on average. A thematic strategy was used in analyzing the information. Findings suggest various psychological effects of heterogeneous sectioning in cooperative learning on the participants. The effects that were found, but not limited to, change in study habits, independence, social skills, and group work motivation. This means that the influences of heterogeneous sectioning in cooperative learning were found to be mostly positive and getting better as time progresses, the students view the setup positively as compared to the start of their Senior year. It is implied that effective classroom structures directly correlate with students' thinking, and students feel more confident towards themselves, this suggests that students have developed in various social and academic factors.